What a waste of my time!!!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Francis Ford Coppola made two separate films based on the novels of S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. While both have an impressive visual style, and an amazing cast of then up and comers, Rumble Fish is the film I go back to. For years I thought this film was just a movie that my dad and I really liked and nobody else remembered. So I was super happy to see it get the Criterion Collection treatment. Mickey Rourke is an actor I have long been a fan of, and this is one of his finest performances.

The title manages to perfectly express and synthesize the plot and the meaning of the film. The story unfolds around the figure of Rusty James (Dillon) who metaphorically and literally struggles to be accepted as a leader among the boys in Tulsa (Oklahoma) that fight is countered by the figure of the idyllic brother Motorcycle boy (Rourke) of the young, undisputed boss At the time of the repentant youth bands, returned after a period in California now grown and disillusioned by the dynamics of the small center of the province.During the film there is a symbolic passage of deliveries between the older brother and the smallest who will not be without consequences. They are the rumble fishes that fight in the absence of living space as a fish in front of a mirror. This image, which is presented to us in the fish shop scene, serves to frame Rumble James's rivalry against his brother. The film is stylistically very peculiarly shot in a fake black and white (only 3 significant shots are in color) with shadows and a photograph with strong references to expressionist cinema (blades of light and shadows stretching), The camera is often at the level of the ground by framing the characters from below or taking them to the top, but keeping the depth of field that allows us to keep the attention that happens in the background. The story is told through a multiplication of narrative points: the main one is that of Motorcycle Boy that is color-blind (in fact the film is in black and white), then there is Steve (Spano) who writes everything that happens and the Rusty James point of view through his process of growth and existential harm. The gang- fighting scenes are almost danced, a clear tribute to West Side Story movie. Another feature that affects the eye is the constant presence of moving clouds (representing the timelessness) of the story or the smog, the puff puffs or the fog in almost every scene of the film. All this is marked and rippled by the stunning soundtrack of Stewart Copeland (police drummer) that accentuates the suspense with timid, stingy, stingy whispers, whispers in the background. Inside the soundtrack we also find the beautiful "Don't box me in" (non-casual title) sang by Stan Ridgway. Although the little success at the time of his release has subsequently become a cult film thanks to the cast, which includes, in addition to Dennis Hopper and Tom Waits, a host of young actors who will make Hollywood's fortune from Matt Dillon to Mickey Rourke Vincent Spano, Nicholas Cage and Diane Lane as well as a very young Sofia Coppola.

It's been years since I've seen this movie (time to watch it again). It's black-and-white to exquisite effect; the appearance of clocks is subtle but profound. I rarely like film versions of books I've enjoyed, but there are a few. This IS the book, enhanced, clarified, and brought to visual life. I enjoyed this movie as a story, as a theatrical piece and as an artistic venture.

Releasing after the much less artsy adaptation of S.E Hinton's The Outsiders Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish adaptation is prime example of where the once great director started to lose the plot and a product that shows the downfalls of trying to make a movie with the style over substance mantra.Filmed in a stark Black and White and filled with many a dream like quality Rumble Fish's presentation allows no connection to the story of Hinton's book which one feels would be ripe even this day to adapt if the approach was more grounded. Coppola set out to mimic artists and expressionism in his take on the disaffected youth of the 50's – 60's yet forgot to engage us in the plight of the characters who led by Matt Dillon as Rusty James do fine jobs in their roles. Rumble Fish is today mainly noteworthy for these early acting pieces by the likes of both Nicolas Cage and Dianne Lane. The weakest link of the film following the direction of Coppola is strangely the supposedly enigmatic Motorcycle Boy played by then desirable icon Micky Rourke.Rourke seems like an almost ghostly figure in the film playing Motorcycle Boy as a disinterested young man who barely seems to want to talk as witnessed in his irritating hushed tone and blank facial expressions. In a movie where the youth look up to this supposedly charming and charismatic bad boy it is a major miss-step by Rourke to play Motorcycle Boy as he does and Coppola to allow him to do so. Another flaw in the film is the seriously idiotic musical score by Police member Stewart Copeland who seemingly had taken the opportunity to experiment rather than craft an effective accompanying piece.Rumble Fish is not all bad but it's also a wasted opportunity to be a classic take on youth on family and the source material has a lot going for it that would work in a film format. Thanks to some novelty factors of seeing the young cast ply their early trade and an interest in what should be an affective story it remains watchable yet in the end merely showpieces as Coppola's beginning of his ever diminishing creative genius that at one stage was nigh unbeatable.2 foggy streets out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check out - www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com